Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will. I cannot help myself. In her contribution to the matter of public importance, which I think we should call a matter of rank hypocrisy today, she said that Labor had fixed the live cattle issue for the nation. I appreciate that mine is only one nomination for the award of hypocrisy of the day, but I think it is a strong candidate for victory, because, whilst it is true that Labor ultimately undid the harm that they occasioned on the northern cattlemen and the cattlemen of this nation more generally, it was their act and their act alone to prohibit the live export of cattle to Indonesia which caused that very harm. Effectively the member for Bendigo was seeking credit for fixing a problem that was wholly the product of Labor in government.

I think those opposite might grow tired of us continually referring to this fiasco but we must, and we must continue to remind them of the harm they wreaked to regional Australians as a result of that knee-jerk reaction, that kind of ill-informed policy making on the run that does real and substantial damage. We could draw a correlation to that kind of decision making and the decision making that has led the now opposition to come up with a negative gearing policy which would wreak the same sort of harm across this nation.

Thankfully, they are developing that policy position from opposition. If they were in government, it would be the policy today and no doubt it would be enacted into law and we would see rents increase, we would see a flood of investment into new residential dwellings that would effectively drive the price of those dwellings up, but, at the same time, effectively pulling the carpet from under existing housing stock. Owning a house in that situation, or buying one, or a house and land package would be the same as taking a new car off the lot. It would see an immediate diminution in the value of that property. The nation has learnt in recent days that, not convinced that that was enough harm to wreak on the nation, their proposal would see negative gearing prohibited from commercial property. It would see it prohibited from margin loans. For some reason they think that the best way for Australians to work, save and invest is to make it harder for them to do those things.

I do not think it is too much of a stretch to take the kind of decision-making methodology that led us to the live cattle fiasco which led to significant harm to rural and regional Australia, and, sadly, resulted in very tragic circumstances. It is not too much of stretch to take that lack of policy development rigour and compare it to the lack of policy rigour that it takes to develop a crazy policy which would do nothing but harm hardworking Australians who have invested in property or have interests in business. At the same time, the opposition are proposing increases in capital gains tax and other taxes. They really are about putting a handbrake on our economy.

When it comes to agriculture, this government delivers policy based on consultation, not knee-jerk reactions. They are policies and legislation born of deep consideration, and methodologies that come to the right conclusion because we consult widely and we consider third-party consequences—and that is why we get the kinds of third-party endorsements that I have referred the House to this evening.

I look forward to seeing the fruits produced as a result of the new arrangements facilitated by this legislation. Through a strong commitment to innovation across the agricultural sector, this government will ensure that the future of primary production in the nation is secured for a very long time. I commend this bill to the House.

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